Celsius sues BitMEX for $495M 11 days before the exchange shuts down permanently

Celsius Network’s bankruptcy estate has filed a $495 million lawsuit against the operators of BitMEX, accusing the exchange of fraud and market manipulation that allegedly led to the wrongful liquidation of 6,360 Bitcoin during the infamous March 2020 crash. The timing is, to put it mildly, aggressive: BitMEX is scheduled to permanently shut down on September 23, 2026, giving the estate roughly 11 days to get its legal foot in the door before the defendant effectively ceases to exist. The complaint was filed on September 12, 2026, in the US Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York. The Blockchain Recovery Investment Consortium, or BRIC, is representing the Celsius estate as its litigation administrator. What Celsius is actually alleging The lawsuit names five entities tied to BitMEX’s operations: HDR Global Trading Ltd., ABS Global Trading Ltd., Shine Effort Inc. Ltd., 100x Holdings Ltd., and HDR Global Services Ltd. Celsius claims these companies intentionally designed their liquidation procedures to improperly seize customer collateral during periods of extreme volatility. The specific incident at the center of the suit is the March 12, 2020 crash, sometimes called ...